Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!

This past weekend was a very special weekend for our MCC office. It was the celebration of 50 years here in Bolivia. Carl and I were on the planning committee, which kept us pretty busy. There were t-shirts to order, venue to book, a stage and chairs to book, musical numbers to find, food, tours etc. There were 4 other people on the committee, which was great to share the responsibilities.

Already the weekend before, guests arrived from North America. Even though they weren't staying in the guest houses (we needed all the room for our rural workers), they came and hung out at MCC. There were lots of people around for days and days and days. Some times it was a bit much, so we would retreat into our house.

On Thursday, we offered two tours. One to see a Mennonite Colony and the other, a tour around the city to visit different MCC sites. People really enjoyed themselves.

Then on Friday, we had cultural night. It was a chance for ex-volunteers to meet to share stories, to see and listen to musical and dance groups. We had the event in our cancha, and the comite de prestamos sold tickets for a churrasco meal as well as other traditional foods. Carl and Sandra MCeed the evening. We were so thankful that it was only a bit windy. One hour after the entire event was done, it started to rain. Thanks God for keeping the rain until then!

The next morning, Carl left very early to help set up at Salon Mary, where the Saturday program and lunch were being held. I came later with the kids; only 30 minutes later than I wanted. Lots of people needed last minute things and so it took forever to get out of the house. And then, to top it off, our taxi stalled half way there, so we had to get another one. Well, it was fine in the end, as the program started late anyways.

It was a great program. There was a quartet and a worship band for music. We had speakers from different beneficiaries, people presented presents and plaques to MCC Bolivia. Our directors spoke, pastors from the local churches, our area director for South America the director for Latin American also had words of congratulations. I made a 15 minute slide show of pictures that people sent me covering the 50 years of MCC in Bolivia. That took a lot of time, but it was fun to do. In all we counted 325 or so people came to the event.

At the end of the program, they had a dedicatory prayer for the current workers and for the continued ministry of MCC. Then they served lunch and afterwards we had cake. By the time it was all said and done, it was 2:30 and time to clean up and head home. People stayed a bit and visited, but by 3:00 most people were gone.

We all breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over. So much energy is needed for an event like this. Carl and I still had a bit of work on Sunday and Monday with guests still being at the guest house, but for the most part, we were done.

It was very special to be a part of this event. This kind of anniversary is a testimony to God's faithfulness in the past and opportunity to anticipate what He will do in the future with MCC in Bolivia.